Jack
Rattenbury, who won fame as much for writing his autobiography
as for any of his smuggling exploits.

Famous
Smugglers

“Notorious”
would perhaps be more appropriate. For smugglers were more often feared
and hated than celebrated. This list is by no means exhaustive. It simply
focuses on a few individuals and gangs who — through their skills,
success, brutality, or brazen defiance of authority — have achieved
legendary status. Clicking an underlined name jumps to the relevant
page in the Guide-Book.

GANGS

The
Hawkhurst Gang
Best-known
of all southern smuggling gangs, the Hawkhurst gangs staged an armed
raid on nearby Goudhurst when villagers there defied them.>

The
Aldington Gang
Known to
locals as "the Blues" and led by the "Roaring Ransleys"
of Ruckinge, they could turn out hundreds of workers to land goods in
open defiance of the authorities.

The
Hadleigh Gang
Named for the Suffolk town where they were based, the 100-strong Hadleigh
gang fought a pitched battle with dragoons and customs men to recover
a captured cargo in 1735.